Often potted plants are transported in refrigerated trucks from the greenhouse to the supermarket, which can occur at as low as 3-4° C., where plant growth halt, and typically take 1-2 days. Afterwards the pot plants typically stand in the supermarket for up to approx. 4-6 days before they collapse. This applies, for example, to roses, which require special favorable living conditions, including efficient irrigation to keep them fresh.
There could easily lapse e.g. 10 days or longer from a potted plant finish growing until it ends at the end user's home, and during this period it is desirable that the plant is watered efficiently to avoid plant languish or even collapse. Supply of a sufficient amount of liquid during the whole period and the effective distribution of liquid volume to the plant roots are particularly desirable. Especially in supermarkets it may be difficult for busy staff to perform effective manual irrigation of the many different types of potted plants that have different water needs.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,352,253 discloses a process for even watering a plant in a flowerpot, which is located on a foot inside a container of water. Footer ensure that raise the pot above water level, while absorbent wicks ensure that lead water from the container to the plant. Wicks one end attached to the foot while the other end manually forced through special openings on the side of the pot using a suitable rod when the pot is placed on the foot. This will require a cumbersome manual operation to this famous watering system works.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,370,819 discloses a different system of self-watering pot plants. The flowerpot is supported by the mating surfaces at several evenly spaced pins or skewers, made of a material capable of transporting water from the water container. The legs extend from the bottom of a water container through a corresponding number of openings made in the pot bottom, into the soil in the pot, so as to provide even watering when the water container containing water.
In order for the pot to rest stably on its legs, it is necessary to have at least three evenly spaced legs extending from self-watering container bottom to the pot bottom. It is not easy to arrange all the holes in the pot bottom above the corresponding number of frail and thin upwardly directing legs. It is time consuming and if only one leg is broken at least the water container must be discarded and the entire placement procedure is repeated. U.S. Pat. No. 6,370,819 also describes the use of a single water wicking leg. The water wicking legs have a water wicking base on which the flowerpot base is resting directly. This embodiment allows the container to contain only a limited amount of water because the pot will otherwise be in direct contact with irrigation water. A potted plant used in this self-watering design could easily be over-watered resulting in constantly flooded roots that will rotten.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,117,632 discloses a self-watering system for potted plant, which comprises a liquid container, wherein an insert is provided with a wick for transporting liquid from the liquid container. The lower part of the insert is adapted to the liquid container so that the insert is centred therein. The wick extends along the upper part of the insert and is then guided into the insert about halfway down. In the embodiment shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,117,632 the wick is wound around the upper part of the insert. This creates a long transport path from the liquid in the liquid container to the potted plant. Moreover it is difficult to draw the wick into the insert.
Hence, there exists a need for a new and improved self-watering system that can overcome the problems of the known self-watering systems. Because different types of plants and/or different types of growth media, potting soil, peat moss, peat or synthetic enriched growth media, such as rockwool added fertilizer, have different liquid needs and very different abilities to hold water, it is desirable to have a self-watering system that can accommodate these varying needs.